With the champion of the division being decided a few hours after she faces Eye, Chookagian is hopeful that with a win in Toronto she’ll be next in line for a title shot.

“I think it was kind of up in the air, depending on the winner of me and Jessica or (Sijara Eubanks) and Roxanne (Modafferi),” Chookagian told reporters, including MMAjunkie, backstage at UFC 230. “One of those winners would get the next title shot. Unfortunately, I think that with Sijara missing weight (at UFC 230), I think that would kind of solidify our fight as the No. 1 contender. But things have been really crazy the last couple weeks, so you never know.”

Eye has a massive opportunity in this matchup. After a four-fight losing skid, and a break of 16 months, Eye returned to action in January of this year to take a split decision over Kalindra Faria. She followed that with a unanimous decision over Jessica-Rose Clark for the first winning streak of her UFC career. Eye had fought at bantamweight for the UFC before those two contests.

Chookagian, who also began her UFC career at 135 pounds, is also 2-0 in 2018 at flyweight with decision wins over Mara Romero Borella and former women’s bantamweight title challenger Alexis Davis.

8. There are evels to this

It’s been more than three years since Elias Theodorou last enjoyed a three-fight winning streak. At UFC 231 he looks to add a third consecutive victory to his record when he faces Eryk Anders in a middleweight contest. Anders has been looking forward to this matchup since he knocked out Tim Williams and called out Theodorou in August.

Theodorou told MMAjunkie that he understands the callout and that his goal is to show his less experienced opponent that there are levels to the fight game.

“He seems like a likable guy and obviously there’s a reason why he mentioned my name,” Theodorou said backstage during UFC Fight Night 138, which he attended as a guest fighter. “It’s because I’m ranked (No. 14 in the official UFC rankings), and more people know me than him. He sees me as an opportunity to make a name for himself, and it’s up to myself on game day to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that’s the plan.”

“He’s a tough individual, but I’m going to show him the difference between chess and checkers,” added Theodorou.

Anders is coming off a short-notice TKO loss to Thiago “Marreta” Santos in September. That fight was contested at light heavyweight and won “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC Fight Night 137.